Restaurant owner accused of duping employees out of their paychecks

SAN ANTONIO — A La Vernia restaurant owner who told authorities she duped as many as 60 undocumented immigrants out of their paychecks — a dozen of whom were her own family members — with promises of providing them official immigration paperwork appeared in federal court in San Antonio on Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo released her Wednesday on a $25,000 unsecured bond, meaning she only has to pay that amount if she violates the conditions of the bond, which include, among other things, surrendering her passport and not traveling outside Bexar County or the seven counties contiguous to it.

Co-defendant Maria De Lourdes Montano-Vicencio was already in federal custody on unrelated charges but also has been charged with wire fraud for her role in the alleged scam, said special agent Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the FBI based in San Antonio.

In a criminal complaint, the FBI alleges that Arteaga and Montano-Vicencio took $89,600 via Western Union and Money Gram transactions over a two-year period from the “victim immigrants” who were employed at Arteaga's restaurant.

According to court documents, in an interview with FBI agents who had identified 18 victims already, Arteaga told them there were as many as 60 victims and that she was related to at least 12.

On Nov. 19, search warrants were executed on Arteaga's La Vernia home and her business, Los Compadres Mexican Restaurant, where agents found receipts corroborating victims' stories about the wire transfers, a ledger with the names of the victims and the amount they owed, as well as the birth certificates and travel documents of some victims.

A preliminary hearing for Arteaga is scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 10 in federal court in San Antonio.